Category: All posts

From the Pinboards: Well Organized Spaces for Children

By Mariah Bruehl, 11th January 2013

It’s that time of year again, when we get to start fresh and tackle some of those organizational projects that have been lingering on our lists for a while. Last week we talked about getting a handle on our toy collections, and I wanted to follow up with a bit of visual inspiration to get in there and make a well-organized, accessible place for your kids to play and create!

I especially love this studio, featured on Martha Stewart, which is filled to the brim with beautifully arranged art supplies. The studio is actually the at home work space of Editorial Director Darcy Miller, but she has created a way to involve her children by inviting them to create with her in the space. Isn’t that lovely? You can see more of her studio here.

Looking for more visual inspiration? Find more ideas for getting organized and creating functional spaces over on the Playful Learning Pinterest boards, we’d love to have you follow along!

Do you have any tips for creating organized spaces? If so, please share!

photo 1, photo 2, photos 3 & 4

If you are interested in discovering more practical tips for creating inviting spaces for the children in your life, check out our Playful Learning Spaces online class…

Holiday Crafts with Kids: Winter Dioramas

By Mariah Bruehl, 21st December 2012

We have Randi from Swoon with us today to share another fun project that families can enjoy together during the holiday season. We can’t wait to make some dioramas of our own!

There’s something magical about miniature scenes, isn’t there? A tiny world created from the imagination. I recently revived a long lost love of miniatures and dioramas by making some festive winter scenes with my kids. There are so many ideas for making these little displays out there from simple trees in jars, to elaborate paper creations. I love the versatility of a diorama project and the amount of creativity involved. The best part is that you can make a little scene with whatever you have on hand, even if that means paper, markers and a few (little) willing hands! All you really need to start is a box. Any size will do. This is less of a “how to” post and more of an inspiration to get creative with what you have and make something!

For our winter scene we gathered: a small box, glitter, glue, oven bake clay, and some moss and sticks from our yard. We also ended up adding some fake snow and a little deer friend from our animal collection.

To start I cut and glued some black felt to the inside of our box. Paper would also work great, whatever you have on hand! I squeezed some dots of glue randomly over the back of our scene and then had the girls sprinkle glitter all over to make falling snow.We also lined our sticks with glue and sprinkled with more glitter “snow” to mimic the look of winter trees.

Next, we made some shapes with oven bake clay and baked them according to the instructions on the package. Once they were done baking and cooling, I added some black dots to our mushrooms with a toothpick and a bit of acrylic paint.

Then we starting setting up our scene by putting all of our elements together in the box. The only thing we actually glued down were our stick trees. The rest is moveable and can be arranged and played with as desired. We sprinkled fake snow (found at craft stores) and glitter over everything. Sugar or course salt would also work great as snow and probably look more realistic too!

If you’re looking for more inspiration, click on the links below to see other great examples of winter scenes and dioramas from around the web:

1. Easy winter scenes created in mason jars

2. A glittery Christmas tree diorama

3. Ski slope diorama

4. A simple scene in an unlikely container

5. A forest made using natural materials

Holiday Crafts with Kids: Frosted Windows

By Mariah Bruehl, 18th December 2012

We have Randi from Swoon with us today to share a fun project that families can enjoy together during the holiday season.

You may have heard of projects that involve creating your own crystals, but this amazing concept is new to me! While researching winter projects for kids, I came across several recipes for making “frost” crystals on your windows. The recipes I found were all different, but the basic concept is to create salt crystals on glass that look a lot like icy winter frost. My kids had SO much fun with this one! I think this would be especially fun if you live in an area that doesn’t get very much snow or frost-just create your own!

I love it when a fun project turns out to be easy too! All you need to make your own frost is: a small saucepan, 1 1/2 cups water, 1 cup Epsom salt, a wooden spoon, 3 Tbs. dish soap, a heat proof bowl or dish, and paintbrushes.

1. Bring water to a boil in your saucepan. 2. Slowly add the salt to the water in small increments, stirring vigorously with wooden spoon to dissolve completely. 3. Remove pan from stove and let water cool for a few minutes. Stir in dish soap. 4. Transfer mixture to a heat safe bowl and use paintbrushes to paint designs on your windows! 5. Salt crystals will begin to form on your designs as mixture begins to dry.

A few tips:

1. This project is fun, but messy! The solution is a little runny, so you will want to protect the floor with a towel. It’s also handy to have a few paper towels ready in case your designs drip a bit.

2. The liquid cools off fairly quickly, but it might be wise to put a portion of it in a small cup and cool it off a bit before giving it to little ones.

3. Once you’ve made a design, let it dry completely. Once it begins to set, don’t go over it again with your paintbrush as it will lose its crystalline appearance and start to look cloudy.

4. To remove crystals, wash windows with soap and water.

Holiday Crafts with Kids: Paper Trees

By Mariah Bruehl, 10th December 2012

We have Randi from Swoon with us today to share a sweet holiday craft that families can create and enjoy together during the holiday season.

During the Holidays children get so excited to help with anything they can, from decorating the house, to wrapping gifts. It can sometimes be hard to find ways to include them in tasks that might be too challenging for them, or when delicate materials are involved, like your favorite glass ornaments. When kids want to help with projects around the house though, I try to always say “yes.” This little project is the first in a series of Holiday projects I’ve come up with this month for my kids to do. I hope your little ones will enjoy them too!

For your trees you will need: A small flower pot, a foam ball (we found some that were covered in pretty moss at the craft store), a floral pick or skewer, and a few pieces of plain copy paper.

First, you need to cut your squares. If you have older children, they can help with this process. You might do a little experimenting to see how many different sizes of squares you would like to use to make your tree. I cut six different sizes of squares (pictured above), but ended up adding four more sizes in between to make our trees a bit fuller. We ended up using ten different sized squares, the biggest being 3″x3″, with each size getting progressively smaller by 1/4 of an inch, down to the smallest size, which was 3/4 of an inch. We cut four to five pieces of each size.

Next, place your foam ball into your pot and stick the flat end of your pick into the center. Ask your children to poke the pick through the center of each square, from the biggest size to the smallest. When you’re finished stacking, you will probably need to spin the pieces a bit so the corners of the squares are fanned in different directions.

My girls were surprised when the stacked paper started to take the shape of a tree! They’re so proud of the decorations they made, and I’m happy to see them participating in the festive spirit of the season (glass ornaments still intact).

Story Machines

By Mariah Bruehl, 6th December 2012

Annie Riechmann from Alphabet Glue and Bird and Little Bird is with us today to share a lovely activity that will bring a new level of excitement to story writing in your home.

There are times when kids write stories just for the sake of writing and wanting to share their ideas and imagination. Then, there are times when they write them because they have a clever idea for displaying their writing, which creates a bit of extra motivation to get busy with paper and pencil. Such is the case with these foldable paper story machines. Once my daughter caught hold of the idea to make and decorate a “machine” that produced her writing for friends and family to read, she was hooked. The result is a fun and whimsical bit of three-dimensional artwork that contains a bonus surprise for the person who picks it up and discovers that they can pull a story out of the side!

Interested in making a few story machines or your own? You can download complete instructions and templates here. I’ve also included a robot book list for some extra fun! This story machine activity can be found in Vol. 9 of my magazine Alphabet Glue and is just one example of the type of project you will find in every issue.

Playful Math: Post-It Note Patterns

By Mariah Bruehl, 4th December 2012

If you’re anything like me, you’re always looking for rainy day activities to do with your children. I love it when we can find new things to do with what we already have around the house (especially if it really is raining outside!).

All you need to make these pretty post-it patterns are post-it notes (I recommend the “super sticky” kind) and a pattern key to follow. You can download the two we used here and here. Or, grab a sheet of graph paper and make your own picture! You could even make letters and numbers. I love how this activity seems like art, but secretly involves so many different areas of learning: color, counting, following a pattern, and hand-eye coordination skills.

To make your post-it pattern, simply follow your pattern key. We made ours on the wall (for the purpose of photographing it), but it might be easier to make your shape on a hard floor surface, especially for younger kids. Start in the middle of your picture, each square represents one post-it note. My kids are fairly young (2 and 4), so I placed the post-it notes as we went, but they told me where they should go, according to our key. Even though they could see the final shape on the key, they were still amazed when the project was finished on the wall!

If you’re worried about wasting paper, we were able to re-use the post-its after taking them off the wall. The girls played with them all afternoon, mostly making roads and trails on the floor leading to “treasure.”

12 Creative Apps for Kids

By Mariah Bruehl, 30th November 2012

I am thrilled to have Rebecca from ThirteenRedShoes back with us today. She has a great list of creative app recommendations for the budding young artists in our lives.

Although at first glance there seems to be an endless supply of creative applications, both artistic and musical, for children, I have really struggled in this area. I have found many applications that allow for creativity in design and making sounds, but real music lessons or even stories about famous artists or composers are hard to find. I set out to discover creative applications based on educational theory while being delivered in a joyous manner—here is a list of our favorites…

01. Toca Band

02. A Jazzy Day

03. Little Fox Music

The above applications allow a focus on tempo and creating your own individual sound (Toca Band), to joining in and singing well known songs (Little Fox Music), and learning about instruments by counting and exploring different stories ( A Jazzy Day). Toca Band also has an adorable app related learning experience, which can occur away from the screen. Their blog features some creative Toca Band goodies such as character cards, posters and coloring pages, which can all be downloaded here .

04. MoMA Art Lab is an amazing app. This is one of my favorites so far. Recently my Mum and sister spent some time in NYC and I urged them to visit MoMA, as I love this museum. The application has amazing links to videos of artists at work, as well as wonderful components that foster learning about some of the famous pieces of work on display in the museum. You can create sound compositions, draw with scissors, make line drawings (which was little R’s favorite, he really enjoyed watching Jim Lambie create his vinyl tape ZOBOP lines on the museum floor), create shape poems, and collaborate on a group piece of art. Almost the next best thing to visiting MoMA itself! Click here, to see some of little R’s creations!

05. Theater by the very clever people at Appracadabra is also very engaging. I love the idea of the little ones taking photos of themselves and creating a new character such as little R the muscle man and little F the mermaid!!

06. Plic Ploc Wiz is a very engaging application in which you can create your own images or work from a set template based on shape and color. The final products are adorable. This was actually one of the first applications that I downloaded last Christmas when we received our iPad and I still enjoy it for me. This application is free in app purchases, so just be aware that little ones may be able to click and purchase if you do not have your itunes account with the security setting of a password, or at least using an itunes account rather than direct to credit card!

07. The Faces I Make is the funniest app. You can make faces out of everyday objects such as light bulbs and bananas. Very quirky and very cool.

08. Pirate Scribble Kidoodle is adorable. Click on this link to see it is action.

09. We found Van Gogh and the Sunflowers when I wanted to expose the little ones to Van Gogh. We have been reading Camille and the Sunflowers by Laurence Anhot ,which is what the application is based upon. I have also put on hold a few Van Gogh books from the library. The makers of the app, Auryn, have not done any other books from this series, but I wish they had. I think i will introduce the boys to Picasso, Monet, da Vinci and Degas over the coming months and with crossed fingers some applications relating to these masters will emerge.

10. After a little app store searching, I found this free app, KaleidoDraw that little F can use to create adorable and colorful images. It is lovely to find this creative tool as an application. The Kaleidograph toy also has an online version however, on a desktop rather than as an iPad application. You can save the image to Facebook and Pinterest, however, I like having the option to save to your photo roll or email to family members, which you can do with the KaleidoDraw app only. Both are free, so see which option you prefer the most!

11. Phoster by Bucket Labs is also another great app that allows you to create text overlays to images you create. You can select your own image and then choose a text/poster layout and alter the text to your own liking. The colors and styles can all be tweaked. The final image can be shared and/or saved to your camera roll. This app is not really for little R, aged 5, at the moment, but in the future as he becomes a more confident writer, this would be an excellent provocation to encourage writing for others.

12. I love Arthur and Charles Create and Play almost more than Little R. We love making the little faces and emailing them to all the family! I also adore the graphics, very clever indeed. Don’t you just love our little creations?

More great app recommendations for children…

Handmade Advent Calendar + 24 Holiday Activities

By Mariah Bruehl, 26th November 2012

A few years back we started the holiday tradition of creating and keeping an advent calendar. I love that it encourages us to savor the holiday season, as well as keep us on track in terms of holiday preparations.

This year we decided to use a magnetic board that we had on hand. We attached rows of twine with magnetic clips on the back of the board (see above) and added 25 little envelopes to the twine using wooden clips. With a touch of colorful red washi tape and a list of advent activities (secretly inserted into the envelopes by me), we are set to go.

Here are the activities that we have lined up this year (in no particular order)…

Decorate the tree.
Research winter holiday traditions around the world.
Make holiday cards for teachers.
Make pomanders.
Clean out closets and donate winter coats, sweaters, and gloves to families in need.
Listen to holiday music & drink hot cocoa (love this hot chocolate station).
Read favorite holiday books.
Create holiday floating candle jars.
Make twig stars.
Make and hang evergreen wreaths.
Create a fresh batch of holiday hang tags.
Make Great Grandma Bettye’s candy cane cookies.
Have a gingerbread men (via MPMK) baking playdate.
Go for a hike and collect winter items for our nature area.
Research the science, history, and traditions of the winter solstice.
Have a paper snowflake making party.
Purchase a gift for a family in need.
Watch holiday movies.
Make our annual family calendar.
Add a new holiday book to our collection.
Write and create our 2013 resolution ornaments.
Donate food to the food pantry.
Make these easy and beautiful snow globes.
Make popcorn and share stories about Christmas memories

For more advent inspiration…

Giant Advent Calendar DIY by Oh Happy Day
DIY Pinata Advent by Handmade Charlotte
Advent Calendar DIY and Free Printables Round-Up by Oh the Lovely Things
24 Family Advent Activities by Modern Parents Messy Kids

Educating the Senses: 5 Great Essential Oils for the Family

By Mariah Bruehl, 19th November 2012

As the weather turns colder and the days shorter, it is a wonderful time to infuse your home with the sweet and comforting smells of pure essential oils. Today we have Emma with us from 95 Acres of Sky, sharing her favorite essential oils for the family…

My Mum introduced me to aromatherapy almost two decades ago; she gifted me with my first burner and an oil called Bois de Rose. It turned my over crowed, cold and dreary student digs into a sweetly scented retreat. I was hooked. Since then I’ve largely avoided artificial scents, using essential oils in every capacity from personal scents to freshening my laundry. The vast array (and costs) of essential oils available can be confusing though… I’d like to suggest a simple list of five oils that are versatile, health supporting, and a treat for our noses and minds.

Chamomile: This yellow flower is frequently found in cupboards as a tea, known for its soothing, calming properties. There are two types of oil, Roman Chamomile (the less expensive version though very pleasing) and German Chamomile (the oil is blue, usually more costly but has a mellower scent). This is a lovely oil to use around young children and can be used instead of (or blended with) the ubiquitous lavender.

Uses: A drop or two in a bath or on a pillow has a soothing and relaxing effect. Wonderful for helping young children to relax and sleep deeply. For a child feeling stress or anxiety, a pocket handkerchief with a few drops added can be very comforting. It is also a really helpful decongestant for a child (or adult) with a stuffed up nose.

Tea Tree Lemon: I discovered this oil a couple of winters ago and have not been without it since. The citrus scent is less overpowering and medicinal than regular Tea Tree, making it more pleasant to use.

Uses: Great for cleaning and disinfecting. In the kitchen, in the water when mopping the floor or to disinfect washing cloths. I recommend using neat on a cloth to wipe down doorknobs and light switches during cold and flu season.

Orange: Either Sweet Orange or Blood/Bitter Orange are delicious additions to your collection. Less harsh than Lemon, it works well on it’s own or blended with other oils.

Uses: Orange is uplifting, refreshing, and cleansing. It lifts a heavy atmosphere and counters bad weather gloom. Orange is great to add to a cloth for a final wipe down in the kitchen or bathroom, though it lacks the disinfecting power of the Tea Tree Lemon. I really love adding a couple of drops to home made play dough in the middle of winter!

Geranium: This oil is summer in a bottle; the heady scent of rose-laced geranium is uplifting and supports health. Geranium is a great stress buster for both parents and kids, relieving tension and restoring good cheer.

Uses: It is particularly good for clearing headaches and is a wonderful scent for a burner or bath at the end of a long day. Added to base oil it is lovely rubbed onto pulse points to give little bursts of refreshment throughout the day.

Frankincense: This is a less familiar oil to many people but I really would not be without it. The rich yet light scent evokes the golden resin from which it is distilled. Traditionally used in meditation it’s calming and mentally uplifting properties improve mental clarity, calm the spirit, and help create a feeling of well being.

Uses: Add to a burner or simmering pan of water to create a calm and restful atmosphere in your home. Can also be added to sensory play items such as play dough and play sand, or even a sink of water with a whisk and bowls to wash. If you notice your children seem overly stimulated or argumentative, Frankincense will help to shift the mood. Add to a bowl of warm water used as a hand or foot soak and watch it work it’s magic.

When using oils with children my rule of thumb is no more than 2-3 drops in a bath or on a pillow, I stick to 2 drops in a palm full of base oil if it will be in contact with the skin. In a burner or pan of water 4-5 drops is usually sufficient, a little less with more potent oils such as the Frankincense.

As with all things you get what you pay for when it comes to essential oils, but that doesn’t mean you have to purchase the most expensive on the market. Aura Cacia is reasonably priced and a widely available brand that I’ve had good experience with. You can also source though specialists such as Mountain Rose Herbs. If you add one or two oils per season you’ll soon have a wonderful and fragrant collection that will enhance your health and home.

Here are some other posts that you might like…

Tabletop Puppet Theater

By Mariah Bruehl, 9th November 2012

Our beloved puppet theater has been a source of hours of creative play for our family… Today Randi from Swoon is with us to share a lovely handmade puppet theater that she created from a simple cardboard box.

We went to a theme park last summer where my daughter saw her very first puppet show. She was enchanted, to say the least, and has been asking to play puppets at home lately. There are a few darling puppet stages for sale, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to foot the bill for something she may not be interested in a few months down the road. I’m always a huge fan of using what we have on hand, so I decided to break the moving boxes out of the garage and make a stage!

I designed some simple stick puppets (you can download them at the bottom of this post), but my kids have been using regular stuffed animals and dolls too!

To make the theater:

You’ll need: a large cardboard box, white paint/paintbrush, a ruler, pen, and sharp scissors.

Draw a rectangle on the wrong side of cardboard (side with any words, etc.) 23″ wide by 15″ tall. Measure 10″ up each side and make a mark. Draw the roof by making a diagonal line at each mark.
Measure 7″ down one side of the roof and draw a 2″ line coming out of the roof. Draw a 3″ line perpendicular to your first line, and then another line down to the roof to form a chimney. Cut the whole house shape out with your scissors.
Measure and mark 2.5″ in from all edges/sides of your house. Cut out to form the inside window of theater.
Cut two pieces of cardboard that are 9″ wide by 2.5″ tall. Make a1″ cut through the top middle of each piece. Measure 1.25″ in from the bottom sides of your house and make a 1″ cut on each side. Insert your 9″ pieces of cardboard into the cuts in your house to form the legs of your stage.
Paint the whole thing white and let dry.

For the puppets:

You’ll need: one fawn template, one fox template, two popsicle sticks, tape, scissors, a hole punch, and four brads.

Print templates on to thick paper and cut out shapes. Punch holes where indicated.
Grab a pair of legs (they are grouped together on templates), insert brad through the front of leg with a centered hole punch, then through the animal, then through coordinating leg with off-centered hole punch. Repeat for each set of legs.
Tape a popsicle stick to the back of each animal and enjoy!